There’s a lot more to speed than just fast legs. If hockey games were decided simply on who could burn around the barn like Usain Bolt or Bullet Bob Hayes, 32 NHL teams would send scouts to the annual NCAA Track & Field Championships with hopes of converting sprinters and hurdlers into forwards and defensemen.
The late Charlie Finley, the cantankerous and innovative A’s owner, no doubt would have gone for that. Especially in his all-too-brief Golden Seals ownership tenure.
The Bruins, now buzzing along with a 5-1-0 record in the new season, flashed their legs in Saturday’s 4-3 OT win over the Wild at the Garden. In their six games thus far under new coach Jim Montgomery, the Bruins have shown an increased penchant for pushing the puck, playing at a pace many ticks ahead of what Black-and-Gold fans have grown accustomed to watching.
No one should be surprised if more of that is in order, particularly when the rehabbing likes of Brad Marchand and Charlie McAvoy return to the lineup in approximately 4-6 weeks.
“When those two other studs get back in the lineup,” Montgomery mused after his squad pinned up points 9 and 10 in the standings, “I’m excited to see what we’re going to be able to roll out.”
Rather than sheer leg speed, noted Montgomery, playing up-tempo hockey is based on players knowing their “outs,” or options with the puck when on the attack. At even strength, for example, if the five-man unit is moving in harmony, with everyone understanding what outs are available as the opposition offers resistance, then clean execution can make teams with even average speed look faster.
“Everyone knowing where our outs are, so we can go to areas we expect the puck to go to,” said Montgomery, explaining the underpinnings of the speed game. “That’s basically what it is. We know [the puck] should go here [particular area on the ice] and everyone’s going there. So you do it, hoping that you’re going to be a second ahead, or even a half-second ahead, which is a lot in hockey.”
Only some five weeks under Montgomery’s tutelage, including training camps, it appears the working help has absorbed the message.
“That was the best we’ve grasped it,” Montgomery noted after the win over the Wild. “I thought we were real clean with the puck.”
Nick Foligno, who last year didn’t look fast enough to remain in the league, picked up his third goal of the new season. Perhaps more encouraging, the 34-year-old winger increasingly has looked comfortable with the pace of play — perhaps Exhibit A for how a team playing in synch can look faster than the sum of its parts.
“Trusting each other,” said Foligno, when asked what he felt is the key to playing at pace. “Which I think a lot of the time shores [up] some of the hesitancy in the game that can slow you down. Also I think the tenacity with which we play. I think that’s what speeds us up. We move the puck quick, we’re on forechecks.”
And the result is . . .
“It’s fun to play . . . the game becomes fun to play because you are always tilting the ice. You are playing that three-quarter ice game, where you are now attacking every time and they seem to be tired. So you feed off that energy that they kind of give you.”
Taylor Hall, now playing for his fifth NHL team, said following the win over Minnesota that this is the fastest team of the bunch.
“It’s a lot of fun to play like that,” added Hall. “Especially . . . I don’t think we really had our legs [vs. the Wild], but we were still able to catch them in transition a lot.”
Connor Clifton seeing more ice time
It’s possible the Bruins this week will see the return of defenseman Brandon Carlo, who took a shot to the noggin last Saturday, Oct. 15, vs the Coyotes. In Carlo’s absence, coupled with McAvoy’s extended stay on the sidelines, Connor Clifton has lifted his profile with the boost in ice time. “When players get in a rhythm of playing, they get more confident,” lauded Montgomery. “They’re touching the puck more and I think he knows that the team needs him to be really good for us to have success. And he’s a really competitive young man . . . he relishes more minutes and he relishes being relied upon for the Boston Bruins to win hockey games.” . . . The Bruins have won all four games at home. The last time that happened? Last season, when they opened by clicking off five W’s on Garden ice to start the new season. The club’s high-water mark is eight, set in 1983-84, when the net was tended by Pete Peeters and Doug Keans . . . In their four home victories, the Bruins have totaled 150:02 in lead time, with opponents logging only 1:17, which was the brief lead the Wild held . . . The Bruins, despite sitting atop the league’s overall standings Sunday morning, have been a tepid 4 for 22 on the power play. Montgomery at one point Saturday afternoon rolled out a No. 1 unit of five forwards, adding Hall to a mix that usually includes Patrice Bergeron, Jake DeBrusk, David Krejci, and David Pastrnak. Pavel Zacha, Bergeron, Hal, and Krejci each have a PPG . . . Following the win, Montgomery said A.J. Greer, scratched on Saturday, “didn’t deserve to come out of the lineup.” But he preferred to get a look at Jakub Lauko and Craig Smith in the bottom six.” Those three, along with Jack Studnicka, could be juggled in and out of the order for a while . . . The Bruins were off Sunday and will be back at Brighton/Warrior Monday morning, prepping for their next two visitors — the Stars (Tuesday) and Red Wings (Thursday) — prior to facing the Blue Jackets Friday night in Columbus.
Kevin Paul Dupont can be reached at kevin.dupont@globe.com.
For Bruins, pushing the pace means more than fast legs - The Boston Globe
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